Inflatable antennae have been described in prior art. One such inflatable antenna is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,650,304 B2. This novel invention describes an antenna that includes an inflatable envelope, a cylindrical reflector formed on a wall of the envelope, a support frame for maintaining the cylindrical shape of the cylindrical reflector and a feed array support structure connected to the catenary support frame. While this invention incorporates a reflective coating utilizing a rigid support frame, there is no integrated antenna, thereby providing for effective relay of information to a separate receiver, but without the ability to receive and decrypt radio frequency. Additionally, the necessity for a rigid structure requires a good deal of space for transport, weight for transport, and additional time for set up. Thus, it would be highly desirable to have an inflatable antenna which would incorporate an antenna printed or wired on an inflatable structure made of flexible radio frequency grade material which would require no additional rigid support to maintain the structural integrity required with a reflective surface antenna.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,373,449 B1 describes an invention which again utilizes a reflective surface. This requires use of a rigidizing structure and possibly a sub-reflector feed system to correct for surface shape deformations of the inflatable antenna. Thus, it would be highly desirable to have an inflatable antenna which would not need a rigidizing structure or the related correction for surface shape deformations of a reflector surface and which would provide an integrated antenna on an inflatable structure for ease and quickness of deployment.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,115,003 describes a unique invention which may be both reflective and transmissive of plane waves. However, this apparatus utilizes a rigid frame, which again must be erected prior to placement of an inflatable envelope. This erection of a rigid frame would be time consuming, require additional tools for erection and would also prove to be cumbersome. Thus, it would be highly desirable to have an antenna that could be incorporated into an inflatable structure, which would then serve as the structural component itself, without the necessity of an additional rigid structure being erected, saving both time and effort in deployment of the antenna.
The novel invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,132,699 utilizes a panel that comprises planar members made up of multiple tubular members with web partitions. The described antenna appears to be bulky, difficult to transport, erect and dismantle, and generally looks awkward to deploy. Thus, it would be highly desirable to provide an antenna that would have no multiple tubular members or web partitions, be easy to deploy and dismantle, would not require an additional rigidizing frame, and that could be utilized multiple times.
The invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,109 has an inflatable component and a separate antenna component. It would be highly desirable to have both the inflatable component and antenna component as a single unit for ease of deployment and dismantling and to decrease weight and space requirements for transport and storage.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. In addition, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.